Cards AFL Interview Series – Eric Haberer

From Arizona, the St. Louis Cardinals' left-handed pitching prospect talks about his game and his plans for 2007.

Left-handed starting pitcher Eric Haberer was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round of the June, 2004 First-Year Player Draft out of Southern Illinois.

Now 24 years old, Haberer has risen steadily though the system. He split his initial professional campaign between rookie-level Johnson City and short-season New Jersey of the New York-Penn League.

The 6'2", 205 pound starter began the 2005 season making nine starts for low Class A Quad Cities, going 4-2 with a 2.11 ERA. He was selected to participate in the Midwest League All-Star game, but instead was promoted to high Class A Palm Beach, where he went 8-6 with a 3.71 ERA. Overall, his 12 wins were second best in the system and his combined 3.12 ERA was fourth best among Cards minor league starters.

In 2006, Haberer returned to Palm Beach, where he posted a 4-7, 3.83 record before earning a spot in the Springfield (Double-A) rotation. In 11 starts there, he went 3-3, 5.43 and walked 34 while striking out 37 in 61-1/3 innings.

This fall, Haberer was assigned to the Arizona Fall League' Peoria Saguaros, where he was asked to work out of the bullpen, something he had not done since closing during his junior year at SIU.

In four of his seven AFL appearances, Haberer did not walk a batter and held his opponents scoreless. But, the other three times, he allowed five walks and a total of five runs.

Overall, his ERA sat at 4.50 in ten innings before an emergency appendectomy ended Haberer's AFL season. He left the team, but is expected to be ready to go in 2007.

In this exclusive interview, granted before his health problem, Eric Haberer discusses his 2006 season and plans for 2007.